August 04, 2013 08:31 PM CDTAugust 04, 2013 08:31 PM CDTRaw video: Boardwalk visitors race to get out of way of speeding vehicle

Raw video: Boardwalk visitors race to get out of way of speeding vehicle

Published: 04 August 2013 08:31 PM

Updated: 04 August 2013 08:31 PM

LOS ANGELES — Police arrested a man on suspicion of murder
after a driver plowed into crowds at the Venice Beach boardwalk, a seemingly
intentional hit-and-run that killed an Italian woman on her honeymoon and
injured 11 others.

Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, of Los Angeles, was arrested after he
walked into a police station in neighboring Santa Monica about two hours after
the incident and told police that he was involved.

Campbell remained jailed Sunday on $1 million bail.

Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese declined to discuss a motive but said
there was no indication that the attack was a terrorist act or that anyone else
was involved.

Security video taken at the popular tourist site showed a man
parking a black car, stepping out and surveying the leisurely scene for several
minutes before getting back into the vehicle and speeding into the crowd.
Hundreds of people who had been walking or sitting at cafes raced to get out of
the way before the vehicle sped out of sight.

Witnesses reported a horrifying aftermath.

People were “ stumbling around, blood dripping down their legs,
looking confused not knowing what had happened, people screaming,” said Louisa
Hodge, who described “blocks and blocks of people just strewn across the
sidewalk.”

The Italian woman was identified as Alice Gruppioni, 32. Her
family in Bologna told the Italian news agency LaPresse that she had been on her
honeymoon after a July 20 wedding.

Gruppioni worked as a manager for the family business Sira group,
which makes radiators. Her father, Valerio Gruppioni, runs the company and was
formerly president of the Bologna soccer team, according to LaPresse.

The family declined to speak to The Associated Press on Sunday.

Authorities said another person was critically injured. Two
others were taken to hospitals in serious condition and eight suffered less
serious injuries.

The crash was not far from where an elderly driver sped through
an open-air farmer’s market in Santa Monica in 2003, killing 10 people and
injuring more than 70 others.

Investigators said George Weller, who was 86 at the time,
mistakenly stepped on the gas instead of the brake and then panicked. He was
doing up to 60 mph when he plowed through the market. Weller was convicted of 10
counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and was sentenced to
probation.

It was not immediately clear how fast the car in Saturday’s crash
was going.

According to security video and witness accounts, the driver
parked next to the Cadillac Hotel and twice walked out to the boardwalk before
getting into the Dodge Avenger and accelerating, swerving around yellow poles
meant to prevent cars from getting into the pedestrian-only area and onto the
boardwalk.

“I heard a big ‘boom, boom,’ like the sound of someone going up
and down the curb, it was super loud,” said Alex Hagan, 22, who was working the
desk at the Cadillac Hotel and watched the scene unfold from the start.

The driver knocked over two mannequins and then started hitting
people, swerving from side to side and often running straight into them.

Video showed the car hitting at least three vendors who were
sitting at their sales booths.

Two women who appeared to be in their 60s were also struck, Hagan
said.

Many people ran after the car, screaming and cursing as it sped
away, he said.

Golestan Alipour, bartender at Candle Cafe & Grill, said the
large sedan carefully maneuvered between a storefront and metal poles that had
been erected to prevent anyone from driving onto the boardwalk. A free-standing
ATM barely slowed his race toward the crowds.

“The restaurant was full. Everybody ran,” Alipour said.

The car went on for several blocks, knocking down a fortune
teller who had a table, a couple selling jewelry and a woman who does tattooing,
Alipour said.

Authorities at the scene searched for evidence across the
boardwalk, which is in a part of Los Angeles known for eccentricities. The
1.5-mile ribbon of asphalt that runs along the sand a few hundred yards from the
ocean is home to galleries, restaurants, tattoo shops, skateboard parks and the
famous outdoor weight room known as Muscle Beach. It can draw as many as 150,000
people on summer weekends.

Police found a car nearby that they believe belonged to the
driver, he said.

Hodge said she and her friend, Ashley Taylor, had made note of
the large number of people walking along the seaside.

“It was a really nice day. There were tons of people out. In
fact, we were talking about how packed it was, because we were having a hard
time getting through all the people,” Hodge said.

The two women stopped to buy ice cream and a couple of hats,
which may have saved their lives. They stepped out of a store to see the
aftermath, as emergency crews arrived and started putting victims on tarps.

Hodge saw one man and woman lying next to each other, wearing
head braces, barely able to move.

“They were just laying next to each other and grasping hands,”
Hodge said, “just a man and a woman holding hands.”

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